Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments

Author(s): JOHN AHN

Source: Journal of Biblical Literature , Summer, 2008, Vol. 127, No. 2 (Summer, 2008),
pp. 267-289
Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25610120

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JBL 127, no. 2 (2008): 267-289

Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments

JOHN AHN
jahn@austinseminary.edu
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, TX 78705

Classifying Psalm 137 is complex. The form may be a communal lament, a

modified Zion psalm, or a malediction against Edom and Babylon.1 Verses 8-9 are
one of the most difficult texts in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.2 The retributive

anger and hatred-laden imprecation encapsulated in a beatitude formula - "Blessed

is the one who seizes and dashes to pieces your children against the rock" (v. 9)-
has made the text all the more complicated to interpret.3

I wish to thank Lawrence Schiffman (1993), Dennis Olson (1997), Brevard Childs (1999),
and John Collins and Robert Wilson (2005) for helpful comments on previous drafts. Select sec-
tions of this paper were presented at the SBL annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, in 2004, and
at the SBL International Meeting in Edinburgh in 2006.
1 The basic structure of a communal lament in Psalm 137, as described by Claus Wester-
mann ( The Living Psalms [trans. J. R. Porter; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989], 26) is as follows:
Address (v. 7), Lament (w. 1-2), Its contrasts (w. 3-4), Petition (w. 5-6), Double request (w. 7-
8b), and Vow of praise (w. 8c-9). For a thorough treatment of the form of lament genre, see Paul
Wayne Ferris Jr., The Genre of Communal Lament in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (SBLDS
127; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992); and especially F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep , O Daughter of Zion:
A Study of the City Lament Genre in the Hebrew Bible (BibOr 44; Rome: Pontifìcio Istituto Biblico,
1993). See also Hermann Gunkel, Psalms (completed by Joachim Begrich; trans. James D. Nogal-
ski; Mercer Library of Biblical Studies; Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1998), 234-35.
Gunkel places Psalm 137 within the rubric of "Smaller Genres" under blessings and curse. How-
ever, he relates that this curse-wish psalm is better suited to the genre of individual and commu-
nal complaint song.
2 For a history of interpretation of v. 9, see Siegfried Risse, "Wohl dem, der deine kleinen
Kinder packt und sie am Felsen zerschmettert: Zur Auslegungsgeschichte von PS 137, 9," Biblnt
14 (2006): 364-84. For a more comprehensive treatment, see Birgit Hartberger, "An den Wassern
von Babylon": Psalm 137 auf dem Hintergrund von Jeremia 51, der biblischen Edom-Traditionen und
babylonischer Originalquellen (BBB 63; Frankfurt am Main: Peter Hanstein, 1986).
3 My translation. Later I take issue with the NRSV's rendering, "Happy shall they be who pay
you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them
against the rock!" (w. 8b-9).

267

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268 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

But beyond the form-critical and the literary and hermeneutical implications,
this piece attempts to demarcate distinctive sociological issues germinating from
the first (597 b.c.e.) and second (587 b.c.e.) waves of forced Judean migrants (not
to be confused with first and second generation Judeo-Babylonians) to Babylon.
The issues surrounding the 597 group (w. 1-6) were displacement, loss of influ-
ential position and power, corvée labor on the irrigation canals of Babylon,4 and
religious or ethnic insults. The issues accosting the 587 group (w. 7-9) were the col-
lective experiences of the destruction of Jerusalem and the more personal and par-
ticular pathos of the atrocious dashing, decapitation,5 mutilation, or burning6 of
little children - the loss of an entire generation.
Following this prelude, we will begin with a discussion of the (1) Sitz im Leben ,
Gattung , and structure of Psalm 137 within the matrix of the sociological approach.7
This will then be followed by (2) a literary analysis. Extrinsic8 and intrinsic9 terms

4 W. Pemberton, J. N. Postgate, and R. F. Smyth, "Canals and Bunds, Ancient and Modern,"
in Irrigation and Cultivation in Mesopotamia, Part 1 (Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 4; Cam-
bridge: Sumerian Agricultural Group, 1988), 207-21; W. van Soldt, "Irrigation in Kassite Babylo-
nia," in ibid., 104-20; Robert McCormick Adams, Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement
and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1981), esp. 27-51; E. Vogt, "De Nehar Kebar: Ez 1," Bib 39 (1958): 211-16.
5 Imagine the act of decapitating little children or infants against the edge or corner of the
walls of Jerusalem. Something that is supposed to protect is now employed to behead. The vio-
lent and traumatic visual image of such a repeated act goes beyond anything we can comprehend.
However, for a modern parallel, visit the Yad Vashem (Israel) or the Holocaust Museum in Wash-
ington, D.C. Note the memorial of the collection of the children's shoes.
6Moshe Weinfeld, "Burning Babies in Ancient Israel," UF 10 (1979): 411-13.
7 Robert R. Wilson, Sociological Approaches to the Old Testarne nt (GBS; Philadelphia:
Fortress, 1984); A. D. H. Mayes, The Old Testament in Sociological Perspective (London: Mar-
shall, Morgan, Scott, 1989). For a concise history leading up to the social-scientific approaches
to the HB/OT, see Norman K. Gottwald, "Angles of Vision in the Hebrew Bible," in The Hebrew
Bible: A Socio-Literary Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 5-34; Keith W. Whitelam,
"The Social World of the Bible," in The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation (ed. John
Barton; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 35-49; Charles E. Carter, "Opening
Windows onto Biblical Worlds: Applying the Social Sciences to Hebrew Scripture," in The Face
of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches (ed. David W. Baker and Bill T.
Arnold; Grand Rapids: Apollos Baker Books, 1999), 421-51. For a more comprehensive treat-
ment, see Robert R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984);
Stephen L. Cook, Prophecy and Apocalypticism: The Postexilic Social Setting (Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1995).
8 According to some modern literary critics, "extrinsic" is another name for the historical-
critical approach. This is contrasted with an "internal," intertextual, text-oriented reading with-
out adherence to external influences from historical criticism. In my judgment, the historical-
critical approach must be the starting point for biblical scholarship.
9 For a description of the intrinsic approach, see Robert B. Robinson, "Interpretation in a

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 269

will help situate the placement of Psalm 137 within the final redacted literary cor-
pus of the book of Psalms. (3) Lastly, the work of Peter Berger and Thomas Luck-
mann, The Social Construction of Reality (1966), already in use by John Collins in
research on the biblical Diaspora,10 among other works,11 will furnish the necessary
theories to undertake our task.

New Key: Intrinsic Criticism of the Bible," Bangalore Theological Forum 25-26 (1993-94): 51-64,
esp. 53-58. Robinson, however, notes that he is skeptical of a unified or "single programme or
interpretation" of the intrinsic and extrinsic paradigms (emphasis added). In other words, he does
not think that the literary school of thought and the historical school of thought can come
together. He provides Robert Alter s work or approach as an example that attempts to incorporate
both. In this combined approach, Robinson relates that the focus shifts to the author who is his-
torically rooted with interpretative possibilities. He further notes his skepticism because "Whether
the author [Alter] represents a stable interpretive center" is questionable. "The author, it seems to
me, is far too formal and empty an interpretive construct to adjudicate the competing claims of
such different ways of making sense of a text" (Robinson, 62-63).
Robinsons statement needs qualification. I agree that, at times, the author is far too formal
and lacks the range of interpretative possibilities. However, not all interpretations need to be sta-
ble. At times what the reader may deem formal and empty may actually adjudicate an interpreta-
tive possibility. Rather than focusing on the author, then, the more encompassing question is,
What about the final redactor - the canonical redactor who deliberately chose, selected, and then
placed Psalm 137 in the midst of thanksgiving and hallelujah psalms following the Psalms of
Ascents? Is the redactor also too formal or empty? What needs to be emphasized is Robinsons
ordering of the "intrinsic and extrinsic," not extrinsic and intrinsic. The point is that when the
exegete begins with the intrinsic and then imports the extrinsic (historical-critical), the exegesis
or formulation will be disjunctive and hard to follow. He is correct on this point. However, when
one begins with the extrinsic (historical-critical), understanding that there are limits with the
historical-critical approach, proceeds as far as the methodology allows, and then subsequently
shifts to the intrinsic for balance and illumination, the "extrinsic and intrinsic" approaches will
result in optimal interpretive parameters while preserving and introducing newer approaches to
solve past problems in scholarship. Although I adhere to Robinson's terms, I cannot adhere to his
"programme." A key point in reference is the classic commentary on Exodus by Brevard S. Childs
(The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary [OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster,
1974]). Observe the subtitle - A Critical, Theological Commentary - an extrinsic, intrinsic approach.
For a more recent work, see David M. Carr, Reading the Fractures of Genesis: Historical and Lit-
erary Approaches (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996).
10 John J. Collins, Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in Hellenistic Diaspora (2nd
ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 2.
11 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York: Doubleday, Anchor
Books, 1959); Jürgen Habermas, Legitimation Crisis (trans. Thomas McCarthy; Boston: Beacon,
1975); idem, The Theory of Communicative Action, vol. 1, Reason and the Rationalization of Soci-
ety (trans. Thomas McCarthy; Boston: Beacon, 1984); Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-
Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991). The
rise of phenomenological sociology- Alfred Schutz leading to Berger and Luckman, among oth-
ers, is set within a group of specific approaches: conflict theory (Marx/Weber, but also Ralf
Dahrendorf, and C. Wright Mills); exchange theory (utilitarianism and psychological behavior-

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270 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

I. Sitz im Leben , Gattung , Structure

With respect to the Sitz im Leben, composition, and provenance of Psalm 137,
Charles Briggs notes that the internal evidence of the psalm points to a time in
Babylon, shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem. Acknowledging the contexts
of lament genre and execration with echoes of élégie funèbre, E. Beaucamp writes,
"Le psaume 137 occupe une place unique dans le psautier. Il est d abord le seul à
pouvoir être daté, avec une absolue certitude. ... Il nest certes pas question de
chanteurs dans les groupes des déportés de 597 ou 586." Moreover, William L.
Holladay argues, "There is one psalm that was clearly composed during the exile,
Psalm 137." Brevard S. Childs states that, although specifying the composition of a
psalm to a definite chronological time frame is rare, in Psalm 137, we have an
exception. Hans- Joachim Kraus further asserts that Psalm 137 was the only psalm
that could be reliably dated to the exile. Referring to Psalm 137, Walter Bruegge-
mann points out that the psalmist was reminiscing about Jerusalem, yearning to go
home. Lastly, within this group, David Noel Freedman writes, "Psalm 137 is one of
the few poems in the Bible concerning the date and provenience of which there is
general scholarly agreement. It is reasonably certain that it was composed in Baby-
lon during the first half of the sixth century b.c.e. It echoes vividly the experience
and emotions of those who were taken captive, and may, therefore, be assigned to
the first generation of the Exiles . . . bridging the period from Jeremiah to Second
Isaiah."12

ism- George Simmel leading to George Homans, B. F. Skinner, and Peter Blau); symbolic inter-
action (George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blummer, Alvin Gouldner, Erving Goffman); feminist
theory (Dorothy Smith and, in theological circles, Elizabeth A. Johnson, Elisabeth Schüssler
Fiorenza, Rebecca Chopp, Anne E. Carr, and Sandra Schneiders); critical theory (the Frankfurt
school), and postmodernism (Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard), an after-
math of functionalism (Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton, Kingsley David, Wilbert Moor) of the
1950s and '60s. See Readings in Social Theory : The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism (ed. James
Farganis; 3rd ed.; Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000). See also Social Theory: The Multicultural and Clas-
sic Readings (ed. Charles Lemert; Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993).
12 Charles A. Briggs, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms (2 vols.;
ICC; New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1907), 2:485; E. Beaucamp, Le Psautier, vol. 2, Ps. 73-150
(Paris: Gabalda, 1979), 266; William L. Holladay, The Psalms through Three Thousand Years (Min-
neapolis: Fortress, 1993), 57; Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 191; Hans- Joachim Kraus, Psalmen (2 vols.; BKAT 15; Neukirchen-
Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1989); Eng. trans., vol. 2, Psalms 60-150 (trans. Hilton C. Oswald;
Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989), 501; Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theolog-
ical Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 74; David Noel Freedman, "The Structure of
Psalm 137," in Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William Foxwell Albright (ed. Hans Goedicke;
Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), 187 (emphasis added).

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 271

However, Artur Weiser has argued that Psalm 137 was composed after the
exiles returned to Jerusalem (as the city continued to exist in ruins). Mitchell
Dahood also thinks that the psalmist recently returned from Babylon and com-
posed Psalm 137 in a postexilic context. And James L. Mays says, "The psalm seems
to be the voice of exiles who have returned to live in the ruins of a Jerusalem not
yet rebuilt."13

The arguments for dating the composition of Psalm 137 either in the forced
migrations period (Babylonian exile) or in the returned migrations period (back in
Yehud) are briefly sketched out in Ulrich Kellermanns article "Psalm 137," or more
thoroughly in Leslie C. Aliens Psalms 101- 150. 14 In short, the problem of dating,
composition, and provenance depends on how one understands the first three
verses. The reference to the pathos of the first forced migration (w. 1-3) with tones
that the exile was still not over (w. 5-9) suggests composition in Babylon. However,
the perfect verbs and the repeated demonstrative adverb ("there") suggest that
the exile was past in time and space, and thus the psalm may have originated after
the return. Patrick D. Miller notes that, although there may be historical references
in a psalm such as Psalm 137, "even the most apparently obvious of such psalms
remain to some degree debatable. The looseness of the psalms from all that his-
torical rootage is not a problem, but a gain and opens up interpretive possibili-
ties."15

As related in the opening, the Gattung, or the literary genre, of Psalm 137 is
without uniformity. Scholars have suggested a lament commemorating the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem (Zech 7:3), 16 a ballad,17 a song of Zion,18 a modified Song of

13 Artur Weiser, Die Psalmen (1935; repr., Göttingen: Vandenhoeck Ruprecht, 1967); Eng.
trans. The Psalms: A Commentary (trans. Herbert Hartwell; OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster,
1962), 794; Mitchell Dahood, Psalms: Introduction , Translation , and Notes, vol. 3, Psalms 101-150
(AB 17A; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970), 269; James L. Mays, Psalms (IBC; Louisville: John
Knox, 1994), 421.
14 Ulrich Kellermann, "Psalm 137," ZAW 90 (1978): 43-58; Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150
(WBC 21; Waco: Word Books, 1983), 238-39.
15 Patrick D. Miller, Interpreting the Psalms (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 23.
16 See J. H. Eaton, Psalms: Introduction and Commentary (TBC; 1967; repr., London: SCM,
1977), 298.

17 Hans Schmidt places Psalm 137 in a category by itself. He labeled this psalm a narrative
poem, a "ballad" ( Die Psalmen [HAT; Tübingen: Mohr, 1934], 242). See Kraus, Psalms 60-150 ,
501.

18 For Zion Psalms, see Kraus, Psalms 1-59 (trans. Hilton T. Oswald; Minneapolis: Augsburg,
1988), 58; Westermann, Living Psalms, 283-88; and Hermann Gunkel, The Psalms: A Form-Critical
Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967).

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272 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

Zion,19 a Song of Ascent,20 a complaint,21 a mock -śimha,22 and an imprecation.23

Psalm 137s complexity is due to the fact that it begins as a communal lament
(w. 1-3 or 1-4), has elements of a Zion psalm (w. 4-6), and concludes as a pro-
scription (w. 7-9). 24
Structurally,25 Freedman divides the text as introduction (w. 1-2), opening
(v. 3), central section (w. 4-6), closing (v. 7), and conclusion (w. 8-9).26 Taking
syntax as the substructure of his thesis (with the repetition of '‫ כ‬and ‫)םש‬, Shimon

19 The proponents of this view include Willy Schottroff Ç Gedenken im alten Orient und im
Alten Testament: Die Wurzel zãkar im semitischen Sprachkreis [WMANT 15; Neukirchen- Vluyn:
Neukirchener Verlag, 1964], 145), Kellermann ("Psalm 137," 48-51), and Allen ( Psalms 101-150 ,
238-41).
20 The designation Psalms of Ascents (Psalms 120-134) refers to a poetic form on an ascend-
ing style or hymns or prayers that were employed by pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem for the
three major cultic festivals (Deut 16:16): (1) Passover (Pesah) or the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
(2) Shavuot (Pentecost), or Feast of Firstfruits or Weeks, and (3) Sukkot, or Feast of Booths or Tab-
ernacles. As the pilgrim would "ascend" or "go up" (Ps 122:4; 1 Kgs 12:25; Isa 2:3) to Jerusalem or
the sanctuary, they would pray or possibly sing one of these psalms. See the notes on Song of
Ascents in The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version (ed. Wayne A. Meeks;
New York: HarperCollins, 1993), 918. Holladay points out that in Judaism, these Psalms of Ascents
were recited during the winter months on Sabbath afternoons ( Psalms through Three Thousand
Years , 145). Mays argues that Psalm 137 resembles a Song of Ascent (see Psalms, 422).
21 On the basis of the works of Dahood, Westermann, and Schottroff, Allen argues that
Psalm 137 is a complaint (cf. Georg Fohrer, Introduction to the Old Testament [initiated by Ernest
Sellin; trans. David E. Green; Nashville: Abingdon, 1968], 292). However, Dahood characterizes
this psalm as a lament (with vengeance) rather than a complaint. "In this lament, the psalmist
recently returned from Babylon, prays for vengeance on Israels enemies - The language of this
sixth century lament is marked by originality and vividness" (Dahood, Psalms 101-150 , 269; see
also Allen, Psalms 101-150 , 237).
22 Harris Lenowitz, "The Mock-simhâ of Psalm 137," in Directions in Biblical Hebrew Poetry
(ed. Elaine R. Follis; JSOTSup 40; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987), 149-59.
23 Hermann Gunkel, Ausgewählte Psalmen, übersetzt und erklärt (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck
Ruprecht, 1904), 192-93; idem Die Psalmen (HKAT; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck Ruprecht,
1926), 580. L. Clinton McCann, Jr., groups Psalm 137 with Psalms 109 and 82 in a section enti-
tled "Prayer and Activity: Vengeance, Catharsis, and Compassion" (A Theological Introduction to
the Book of Psalms [Nashville: Abingdon, 1993], 112-22).
24 See A. A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms, vol. 2, Psalms 73-150 (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerd-
mans, 1992), 896. For recent articles on Psalm 137, see William H. Bellinger, Jr., "Psalm 137: Mem-
ory and Poetry," HBT27 (2005): 5-20; Christopher B. Hays, "How Shall We Sing? Psalm 137 in
Historical and Canonical Context," HBT 27 (2005): 35-55.
25 Oswald Loretz, Die Psalmen (2 vols.; AOAT 207; Kevelaer: Butzon Bercker; Neukirchen-
Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1979), 315-24; Pierre Auffret, "Essai sur la structure littéraire du
psaume 137," ZAW 92 (1980): 346-77; Morris Halle and John J. McCarthy, "The Metrical Struc-
ture of Psalm 137," JBL 100 (1981): 161-67; Marc Girard, Les Psaumes redécouverts: De la struc-
ture au sens 101-150 (Québec: Bellarmin, 1994), 412-23.
26 Freedman, "Psalm 137," 187-205.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 273

Bar-Efrat divides the text as follows: w. 1-4, w. 5-6, and w. 7 -9. 27 In a recent study
of Psalm 137, George Savran also keeps w. 1-4 as the setting and context of lament;
w. 5-6 are considered the individual oath section; and w. 7-9 are seen as a plea to
God for revenge against the Babylonians and Edomites.28 I agree with Efrat and
Savrans works which most closely follow the MT. Beyond this structural division,
however, my interest lies in the unique changes in the two contexts of the psalm. In
Psalm 137, there are two distinctive laments- both socially conditioned. Verses
1-6 describe the experience of the first wave of the 597 b.c.e. group, while w. 7-9
encapsulate the pain and aftermath of the 587 b.c.e. group. What is crucially and
centrally missing, however, is the voice of the third wave (in 582 b.c.e.). If the psalm
is indeed postexilic, where is the voice of this 582 b.c.e. group?
As previously noted, one of the central points for dating the text has been the
demonstrative adverb ‫"( ש ם‬there").29 My suggestion is that this lexeme poetically
replaces "Babylon" without having to repeat the term overtly and constantly. In the
liturgical context of Psalm 137, "there" (w. 1, 3) takes the place of the Israelites
captors or captivity. (Imagine constantly voicing Hitler, or "that place," more fre-
quently than invoking Gods name or Jerusalem during liturgy.)
If Psalm 137 is to be seriously considered a postexilic psalm, there has to be
some reference to the third wave of forced migrants, that is, the 582 b.c.e. group,
as represented by Jonathan son of Kareah, Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Jeremiah, and
others who fled to Tahpanhes, Egypt (Jeremiah 42-43), or the 745 Judeans taken
to Babylon (Jer 52:28-30). The following two references will illustrate the point.
The mashal in Ezekiel 15 describes an image of a vine charred on the ends
and the middle.30 Although there is some debate as to which migrations (721, 597,
587, 582) the image describes, in the context of Ezekiel 12 and 15, and the book of
Ezekiel as a whole, it clearly depicts the threefold destructions of Jerusalem in 597,
587, and 582. This threefold destruction of Jerusalem is further emphasized in the
postexilic book of Daniel, as Daniel is noted to have prayed three times a day fac-

27 Shimon Bar-Efrat, "Love of Zion: A Literary Interpretation of Psalm 137," in Tehillah le-
Moshe: Biblical and Judaic Studies in Honor of Moshe Greenberg (ed. Mordechai Cogan, Barry L.
Eichler, and Jeffery H. Tigay; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 3-11.
28 George Savran, "How Can We Sing a Song of the Lord? The Strategy of Lament in Psalm
137," ZAW 112 (2000): 43-58.
29 Of Babylon: Gen 11:2, 7, 9, 31; Exod 15:25c, 27c; 17:3; Pss 87:4, 6; 107:36; Isa 13:21 (3
times); 28:10; 33:21; 35:8; Jer 2:6; 13:4, 6; 16:13; 23:3, 8; 29:6, 14, 18; 32:37; 42:15; Ezek 1:3; 3:15
(twice), 22, 23; 4:13; 11:16; 12:16; 20:35; 37:21; 39:28; Dan 9:7; Mie 4:10.
30 See William A. Irwin, The Problem of Ezekiel: An Inductive Study (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1943), 33-41; Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20: A New Translation with Introduc-
tion and Commentary (AB 22; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 209; see also Rudolf Smend,
Der Prophet Ezechiel (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1880); Johannes Hermann, Ezechielstudien (BZAW 2;
Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1908); Gustav Hölscher, Die Profeten (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1914); idem, Geschichte
der israelitischen und jüdischen Religions (Giessen: Töpelmann, 1922); Walther Eichrodt, Ezekiel:
A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970).

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274 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

ing Jerusalem - remembering the threefold destruction of Jerusalem in 597, 587,

and 582. Now, because there is not even the slightest hint of this last 582 b.c.e.
group in Psalm 137, we can be reasonably certain, that our psalm cannot be post-
exilic. In its final form, as it stands, Psalm 137 is likely to have been composed after
587, but prior to the arrival of the 582 group. Thus, the work of Briggs, Beaucamp,
Holladay, Childs, Brueggemann, and Freedman is substantiated.

II. Extrinsic and Intrinsic Approaches

The extrinsic, or historical-critical, approach has demarcated, highlighted,

and even offered a solution to the problem of dating Psalm 137. Form-critically,
however, establishing a specific Gattung for this rich and complex mixture of gen-
res is a major challenge. Then again, it is the fluid movement from a communal
lament, to a Zion psalm, to an anathema that opens up creative interpretative pos-
sibilities. As we now move to the poem itself, "naturalization"31 within the intrin-
sic approach becomes a helpful tool.
In the broadest sense, naturalization is a process of de-alienating or making a
poem more intelligible by reducing the poem or psalm's strange language or struc-
ture. It is making the poetic devices, schemes, and artifices appear natural.32 How-
ever, as Veronica Forrest-Thompson opposed the rush to naturalization, and
Jonathan Culler further delineated naturalization into five levels, and Michael
Riffaterres theory guards against arbitrary and subjective reading, we begin by "rec-
ognizing the important role of the individual reader in producing the final sense of
the text."33 By the role of the "individual reader," I mean the final redactor of the
book of Psalms, who decided to place Psalm 137 in the midst of hallelujah and
thanksgiving psalms.34
Preceding Psalm 137 are the Psalms of Ascents, Psalms 120-134. Following
these are Psalm 135 (hallelujah psalm) and Psalm 136 (Hôdû or thanksgiving
psalm). After Psalm 137, there is another thanksgiving psalm, Psalm 138.

31 This term was coined by Veronica Forrest-Thomson in 1972 and further explicated in
Poetic Artifice: A Theory of Twentieth-century Poetry (New York: St. Martins, 1978). Cf. Robert B.
Robinson, "Levels of Naturalization in Obadiah," JSOT 40 (1988): 83-97, esp. 96 n. 2. See also
Jonathan Culler, Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1975); and Michael Riffaterre, Semiotics of Poetry (Advances in Semi-
otics; Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978).
32 Robinson, "Levels of Naturalization," 84. "Naturalization becomes a name for the readers
orderly process of making sense of a text, a process broad enough to take account of all signifi-
cant factors" (p. 86).
33 Ibid., 87 (emphasis added).
34 Gerald Henry Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (SBLDS 76; Chico, CA: Scholars
Press, 1985).

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 275

Ps 135:1 ‫הוהי‬r ‫שתא היהי ןללה דיעב‬-‫ןללה הי וללה «ם‬

Praise Yahweh! Praise the name of Yahweh;
Praise, O servants of Yahweh.

Ps 136:1 ‫'כ 'כ טלועל ודטח‬-‫ודוה הוה'ל כוט‬

Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,
For his steadfast love endures forever.

Ps 137:1 ‫סג ונרכזב חא‬-‫לע חורהנ לבב סש רנב'ש רנ'כב‬

By the irrigation canals of Babylon,
there we lived and also wept
when we remembered Zion.
Ps 138:1 ‫ללכב דנג ס'הלא ךרמזא‬-‫דודל ךדוא ב‬
Of David
I give thanks to you with my whole heart;
In the presence of God, I sing to you.

Kraus relates that Psalm 135 belongs to the category of songs of praise (par-
allel to Psalm 136) while Psalm 138 is a song of thanksgiving.35 Mays refers to Psalm
135 as a "Hymn of Praise," Psalm 136 as "Companion to Psalm 135," and Psalm 138
as a "Song of Whole-Hearted Thanksgiving for Salvation."36 He further observes
that Psalm 137 "concludes the three psalms (135-137) attached to the collection of
the songs [of ascents]."37 Kraus points out that Psalms 135, 136, 137, and 138 were
communally recited or prayed in a liturgical context as believers "intoned at tem-
ple celebrations" or as personal prayers in the courtyard of the temple.38 Psalms
135-137 are, then, a small cluster of praise and thanksgiving psalms. This group-
ing would close off the Psalms of Ascents,39 as there would be joy, praise, thanks-
giving, and adoration as the pilgrims descended from Jerusalem after the splendors
of the festivals; appropriately, they may be called the Songs of Descent.
Yet why would Psalm 137, accentuated by laments and curses, be placed in
the midst of these thanksgiving and praise psalms? This is a bold but unconven-
tional editorial move that proposes to give thanks and praise through laments laden
with honest feelings of enmity. Thanksgiving and praise arise not only from posi-
tive elements in life. Rather, the true mark of these practices is finding the courage
and strength to praise and give thanks when there is nothing worthwhile or praise-

35 See Kraus, Psalms 60- 150 y 490.

36 See Mays, Psalmsy 418.
37 Ibid., 422.
38 See Kraus, Psalms 60-150y 491-92, 497, 502, 506.

Loren D. Crow, The Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134): Their Place in Israelite History
and Religion (SBLDS 148; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986).

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276 Journal of Biblical Literature 12 7, no. 2 (2008)

worthy. Brueggemann says that Psalm 137 is marked not by despair but by hope.40
However, we cannot move into this hopeful realm all too quickly without allowing
the pathos to resound and have its rightful place. The question is, Can those in
Babylon, both the first wave and second wave of forced migrants, collectively voice
"Hallelujah" or "Thanks be to God" in the midst of their most difficult time? The
answer seems to be complex.

III. Text

Verses 1-4

1 By the irrigation canals of Babylon -

there we lived and also wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 Upon the willows, in its midst,
we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors
asked us for words of a song,
but our tormentors
asked us for mirth,

"Sing for us from the song of Zion."

4 How could we sing the song of the Lord
on foreign soil?

According to Berger and Luckmann, the reality of everyday life generates the
theoretical through phenomenological analysis. The realissimum of consciousness
is present in the "here and now" of everyday experience. "I experience everyday
life in the state of being wide-awake." In addition, "[t]he reality of everyday life fur-
ther presents itself to me as an intersubjective world, a world that I share with oth-
ers
communicating with others."41
The first verse of Psalm 137 depicts the everyday experience of the first wave
of the forced Judeo-Babylonian immigrants. It was "there," by the irrigation canals
of Babylon that the community lived and wept when they remembered Zion. It is
essential that we do not read w. 7-9 into the context and setting of w. 1-4. There is
no information about the destruction of Jerusalem. The poem naturally says that
the forced migrants remember Jerusalem. A contrast is being drawn between those
residing in Babylon and those who continue to live in Jerusalem. The collective "we"
(first person common plural) indicates that the members of the community are
interacting with one another, but v. 3 reveals that this interaction is more complex.

40 Brueggemann, Message of the Psalms , 75.

41 Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality (New York:
Anchor Books, 1966), 21, 23.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 277

1. Verse 1 reflects established "ethnic enclaves," in contrast to "ghettos" (the

former producing high levels of economic output in contrast to the latter, which
cannot).42 The opening words of the psalm are best rendered, "By the irrigation
canals of Babylon" to illuminate and establish a concrete social context in contrast
to the more generic "By the waters of Babylon." It should be noted that Chebar or
ka-ba-ru is attested in the Murasti documents (9.84) as one of the primary canals
in the Nippur region.43 The foremost social information that is conveyed at the
outset of our psalm is the location of the first wave of the forced Judean migrants
(the 597 B.c.E. group)- they were "there," by those irrigation canals. There has
recently been extensive research on the environment and especially the importance
of the "hydraulic hypothesis" which ascribes and buttresses the control of water
and political systems in ancient southern Mesopotamia.44 The centrality of con-
trolling hydraulics cannot be overemphasized.45
The opening words of the verse draw the reader into the first half of the sixth
century, the Babylonian backdrop, when the first wave of Judeans was forced to
work on these irrigation canals. The major and continuous problem of salinization
was prevalent on all primary, secondary, and tertiary irrigation canals.46 The ardu-

42έ For example, Tel-abib on the Chebar canal. See Ezek 1:1 and 3:15; cf. also 3:23; 10:15, 20,
22; 43:3; and Dan 8:2 for canals of Ulai by the Euphrates River. See Anderson, Book of Psalms, 898;
Dahood, Psalms 101-150 , 269; Allen, Psalms 101-150 , 235; and Kraus, Psalms 60-150 , 502. See
also Israel Eph'al, "The Western Minorities in Babylonia in the 6th-5th Centuries b.c.: Mainte-
nance and Cohesion," Or 47 (1978): 74-90; idem, "On the Political and Social Organization of
the Jews in the Babylonian Exile," ZDMG suppl. 5 (1980): 106-12. In the first two decades of the
twentieth century in the United States, large numbers of ethnic enclaves of Italians, Poles, Russians,
and other Europeans existed throughout the country. In the 1940s and '50s, these ethnic enclaves
gradually declined as the second and subsequent generations moved away to more affluent neigh-
borhoods. Since the 1970s (with the passing of the 1965 Immigration Act by Congress, which
sought to overturn racial and ethnic restrictions), there has been an explosion of new ethnic
enclaves. Chinatowns in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York have become more populated
with Hispanic/Latino/a, Vietnamese, and Koreans, and other immigrants have migrated to
Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. These cities attracted relatively few immigrants
in the first half of the century. For a socioeconomic study of immigration and urban develop-
ment, see Thomas Muller, "Immigration and Urban Areas: The United States Experience," in
Immigrants , Integration and Cities: Exploring the Links (Paris: OECD, 1998), 33-35.
43 R. Zadok, "The Nippur Region during the Late Assyrian, Chaldaean and Achaemenian
Periods, Chiefly according to Written Sources," IOS 8 (1978): 266-332, esp. 287.
44 Karl W. Butzer, "Environmental Changes in the Near East and Human Impact on the
Land," in CANE 1:123-51.
45 Robert C. Hunt, "Hydraulic Management in Southern Mesopotamia in Sumerian Times,"
in Irrigation and Cultivation in Mesopotamia, Part 1, 189-206.
46 David Oates and Joan Oates, "Early Irrigation Agriculture in Mesopotamia," in Problems
in Economic and Social Archaeology (ed. Gale D. G. Sieveking, I. H. Longworth, and K. E. Wilson;
London: Duckworth, 1976), 109-35; Christopher J. Eyre, "The Agricultural Cycle, Farming, and
Water Management in the Ancient Near East," in CANE 1:175-89. See also Hermann Gasche and

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278 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

ous and ceaseless task of removing salt from the canals was forced upon the
Judeans.47 Ironically, those who were formerly in political, social, and religious con-
trol of Judah, that is, the royal officials and the members of the temple, were now
reduced to corvée. In this reversal of power, the once high and mighty were stripped
of status and forced to labor for Babylonian economic gain.48
The opening phrase "By the waters of Babylon" has troubled past commenta-
tors. A. B. Ehrlich observed that the word for rivers or waters (in plural) is con-
trasted with the word Zion, which evokes the image of barrenness or dryness
1\("dry land"). Ferdinand Hitzig suggested that the community gathered by the
waters because their synagogues stood near the water for purification purposes,
while Rudolf Kittel, on a similar note, stated that the exiles went to the waters to
pray for personal purification. E. W. Hengstenberg commented that the streams
symbolically represented the tears of the exiles, and Bernhard Duhm noted that
after an arduous day s work, the exiles went to the waters to relax.49 Although these
classical insights should not be lost, we need to move beyond and allow for newer
interpretive possibilities- that the everyday world of the first wave of forced immi-
grants involved the arduous labor of maintaining the numerous irrigation canals.
The exiles did not go to the waters to relax, but primarily to work (and perhaps,
secondarily, to worship, as the Hebrew cognate suggests).
With respect to the statement of Berger and Luckmann concerning the "here
and now," the demonstrative adverb ‫"( םש‬there") captures the experience of those
in forced migration. This single term reduces the past and collapses the present
notion of the here and now to "there." It was there; in Babylon, by the irrigation
canals, that the first wave of Judeans lamented. Poetically, this demonstrative adverb
slows down the reading, ‫ םש‬voices Babylon without having to mention explic-
itly the place of their captivity. This lexeme is heard again in v. 3, "for there" our cap-
tors asked us for words of a song, echoing Babylon (‫ )לבב‬without having overtly to
utter it. After v. 1, Babylon is not mentioned again until the curse in v. 8. Moreover,

Michel Tanret, Changing Watercourses in Babylonia: Towards a Reconstruction of the Ancient Envi-
ronment in Lower Mesopotamia, vol. 1 (Mesopotamian History and Environment; Series 2, Mem-
oirs 5; Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1998). This volume is invaluable,
with up-to-date aerial and satellite photographs.
47 M. P. Charles, "Irrigation in Lowland Mesopotamia," in Irrigation and Cultivation in
Mesopotamia , Part 1, 1-39; G. van Driel, "Neo- Babylonian Agriculture," in ibid., 121-59.
48 Niels Peter Lemche notes, "It was impossible for the deported elites to maintain their
social position in exile
the complicated administrative system" ( Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite Society [Bibli-
cal Seminar; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988], 180).
49 Arnold B. Ehrlich, Die Psalmen (Berlin: Poppelauer, 1905), 355; Ferdinand Hitzig, Die
Psalmen (Leipzig: Winter, 1863), 405; Rudolf Kittel, Die Psalmen (ΚΑΤ; Leipzig: Deichert, 1914),
466; E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentar über die Psalmen, vol. 4 (2nd ed.; Berlin: L. Oehmigke,
1852), 436; Bernhard Duhm, Die Psalmen (KHC; Freiburg: Mohr, 1899), 283.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 279

the first of two hapax legomena in v. 3, ‫ רנ'ברש‬and ‫( רנ'ללרת‬traditionally rendered

"our captors" and "our tormentors"), may in fact refer to the Babylonians, as Baby-
lon is called "foreign soil or land" (‫ )תמדא )דכנ‬in v. 4.
It appears that the psalmist (or redactor) was deliberate and careful in employ-
ing the term Babylon. The author or redactor may have chosen to replace ‫לבב‬
("Babylon") with ‫"( םש‬there"), ‫"( רנ'ברש‬captors"), and ‫"( תמדא דכנ‬foreign soil").
One reason for this may have been the desire not to call a thing or place by its right-
ful name.50 The mere fact that it was "there" is sufficient for the community to know
that the reference was to Babylon. Another reason may have been to avoid utter-
ing or mentioning ‫ לבב‬alongside !‫(צ‬Zion) or ‫( 'םלשר‬Jerusalem) especially in a
liturgical context where Babylon would be publicly (or privately) uttered in equal-
ity with Jerusalem or Zion.51 Thus, in the context of this psalm, the demonstrative
adverb DW is best understood as a term representing or replacing Babylon.
Berger and Luckmann write that the knowledge of everyday life is structured
in terms of relevances. "Some of these are determined by immediate pragmatic
interests of mine, others by my general situation in society. ... An important ele-
ment of my knowledge of everyday life is the knowledge of the relevance structures
of others."52 For the psalmist, the structure of relevance of the other is on two lev-
els: internal, within the group who "live there and also (or loudly53) wept" (v. 3)
and external, their captors and oppressors. The phrase ‫םנ‬-‫ רבב'ש רנ'כב‬traditionally
has been rendered "we sat and also wept." However, Savran points out that the
phrase is an idiomatic expression, as seen in Neh 1:4, "I sat and wept and mourned"
(cf. El in UTy 67 y VI: 1 1-15: "He sat upon the ground. He poured ashes of grief upon
his head, dust of wallowing upon his skull").54 Conversely, in 2 Sam 3:16; Ps 126:6;
and Jer 22:20; 41:6; 50:4 "walking and weeping" demarcates a course of action in
pre-exilic times over and against those "sitting and weeping" in exilic (or postex-
ilic) times. This is further heightened by the double entendre that the exiles "dwell"
in Babylon, which is contrasted with the reason for tears, not being able to live in
Zion. The continuous flow of tears relays the fact that, for the displaced and mar-
ginalized Judeans, life was fraught with the hardships that many first-generation
immigrants face - loss of prestige and identity, cultural and language barriers, and

50 Vincenz Zapletal, Der Schöpfungsbericht der Genesis (lyl-2}3) (Regensburg: G. J. Manz,

1911), 15-16.
51 In Psalm 137, ‫( לבב‬Babylon) is written (or uttered) twice (w. 1 and 8). In contrast, there
are two occurrences of Zion and three occurrences of Jerusalem. However, if we replace or insert
‫ לבב‬for every ‫ םש‬or hapax or reference to foreign soil, then Babylon would be uttered or men-
tioned six times throughout the psalm. We contrast this to five occurrences of Zion and Jerusalem;
a ratio of 6:5 (Babylon to Zion/Jerusalem).
52 Berger and Luckmann, Social Construction of Reality y 45.
53 Dahood suggests that DJt describes the state of weeping, hence "loudly" ( Psalms 101-150 ,
269).
54 Savran, "How Can We Sing a Song of the Lord?" 45.

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280 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

political and societal difficulties especially exacerbated by hard physical labor. In the
first verse, living and weeping by the irrigation canals captures the realissimum of
the first wave (597 b.c.e.) of Judeo-Babylonians.

2. In verse 2, the psalmist notes, "We hung our harps (lyre) in the midst of the
willows."55 The knowledge of everyday life is even structured around the musical
(religious) instruments that hang in the midst or middle of trees rather than being
played. Here is a silent tune that once possibly filled the halls of the temple. But
there, by the waters, the inanimate objects reflect the sorrow and pathos of those
in corvee. The personification of inanimate objects lamenting appears also in Lam
1:4, "The roads of Zion mourned," and Lam 2:18, "the wall mourned." The psalm
verse depicts a scene of willow groves being planted along the side of the irrigation
canals for beauty, shade, comfort, and rest. However, in the context of the first wave
of the forced migration of 597 b.c.e., the willow groves display not a scenic image
but one of weeping willows whose tears are for those who hung the harps. For the
community in forced migration, beauty was lament; the shade was the shadows in
which they lived. Comfort, rest, and peace were altogether absent. Forced to
migrate, displaced from their former temple occupation and guild, stripped of
artistry and musicianship, these temple elites were now reduced to irrigation ditch
diggers. They have symbolically hung their lives in a deploring tone.

3. Humiliation, mockery, and scoffing become more visible and audible in

w. 3 and 4. Poetically, we notice the alliteration of the sibilants -‫ רנרלאש נ'ברש‬.‫םש‬
There is also a wordplay in v. 2 between ‫"( רנ'ברש‬our captors"), ‫"( רנ'ללרח‬our tor-
mentors"), and ‫"( רנ'לח‬we hung"). Both ‫ רנ'ברש‬and ‫ רנ'ללרח‬are hapax legomena.56
These two terms have not been sufficiently treated in past works on Psalm 137.

55 The term ‫ הברע‬TIP has been identified as the "Euphrates poplar" ( Populus euphratica). How-
ever, despite its name, botanists and flora specialists see the poplar, a hydrophate - a riverine com-
munity of wetland plants, willow ( Salix ), oriental plane (Platanus orientate), Euphrates poplar,
tamarisk (Tamarix) among others, as a willow rather than a true poplar. The Akkadian equiva-
lent is sarbatu and the Sumerian is GIŠ.ÁSAL. See J. V. Kinnier Wilson, "Hebrew and Akkadian

Philological Notes," JSS 1 (1962): 173-83; Allan S. Gilbert, "The Flora and Fauna of the Ancient
Near East," in CANE 1:153-74.
56 Frederick E. Greenspahn, Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew: A Study of the Phenome-
non and Its Treatment since Antiquity with Special Reference to Verbal Forms (SBLDS 74; Chico,
CA: Scholars Press, 1984). Dahood says that tôlalênû ("our tormentors or mockers") is structurally
parallel to sôbênû ("our captors") (Psalms 101-150, 270-71). He says they are synonymous and
notes also that the form tôlalênû can be derived from the root hll in the poel conjugation, "to
make a fool of, or mock." Gesenius suggests the piel from the root ‫( ילל‬a vexer, tormentor) with
the Arabic cognate ‫( הראפת‬Gesenius s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon [trans. Samuel P. Tregelles;
London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, Paternoster Row, 1853], DCCCLIX). Although Alfred
Guillaumes suggestion that ‫ םיללות‬were the harsh Babylonian slave drivers who led the Judeans
eastward is wide of the mark, he was nevertheless more or less on the correct path ("The Mean-
ing of‫ ללוח‬in Psalm 137:3," JBL 75 [1956]: 143-44).

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 Ahn : Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 281

With respect to the asking for a song, "our captors," or the Babylonians, may
have been simply asking for words of any generic Judean song. However, com-
mentators have asked the following questions: Why would the Babylonian captors
ask for the lyrics of a song that would elevate Yahweh, Yahwehs people, and
Jerusalem unless they aspired to mortify the exiles with the impotence of their song,
their God, and their identity? What is noteworthy is that the ensuing group, the
‫ללוח‬,‫"( ונ‬our tormentors") quickly understand the implied meaning and rejoin and
clarify what type of song it is that the Judeans ought to sing - one of the songs of
Zion. The psalmist may not have been initially offended by the request of the cap-
tors (‫)ונ'בוש‬. What troubles and causes grief, disgust, and outrage is the request of
the tormentors (‫ללוח‬,‫)ונ‬. The syntax of v. 3, beginning with the recitative or con-
junctive ‫יכ‬, is conventional. However, the waw followed by a nonverbal element
clearly warrants a disjunction- "but" not "and." ‫'כ םש ונולאש ונ'בוש ר'ש"רבד‬
‫ונ'ללוחו החמש ור'ש ונל ר'שמ ןו'צ‬. Hence, the rendering should be: "For there our
captors asked us for the words of a song, but our tormentors asked for mirth, 'Sing
for us a Zion song!'"
The identity of those in forced migration is projected through the interaction
with and relevances of others, and especially through the social distribution of indi-
viduals with whom they that interact, that is, their captors and tormentors.

In other words, the self is a reflected entity, reflecting the attitudes first taken by
significant others toward it; the individual becomes what he [she] is addressed as
by his [her] significant others. This is not a one-sided, mechanistic process. It
entails a dialectic between identification by others and self-identification,
between objectively assigned and subjectively appropriated identity. . . . What is
most important for our considerations here is the fact that the individual not
only takes on the roles and attitudes of others, but in the same process takes on
their world. ... To be given an identity involves being assigned a specific place
in the world.57

The identity and the projected role of the 597 group may in fact be embedded in
the hapax legomena.
Like a time capsule, these two lexemes have preserved the social stratifica-
tions and hegemony of the ancient Near East. In a study of Sumerian agriculture,
Kazuya Maekawa made several important observations on the agricultural system
of Sumer. It should be noted that there was a substantial period of time between the
Sumerians and the Neo- Babylonians, but agricultural practices and traditional
institutions remained virtually unchanged- even down to modernity in certain
parts of the world. Maekawa notes that specific measures were taken from prepar-
ing the field for sowing, to the spreading of seeds, to the harvest, and even the
threshing. However, with respect to the "interim period between sowing and har-
vesting, the farmer tells his son to irrigate the fields three or four times, according

57 Berger and Luckmann, Social Construction of Reality, 132.

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282 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

to the growth of the cereal."58 To illuminate the practice for high-volume produc-
tion, Maekawa studied the labors of the erin-people in Lagash (CT III 18343).
In CT III 18343, there were two sets of workers, from different camps under
the jurisdiction of overseeing groups. One set (the collective labor of four erin-
teams) was taken from the temple of dNanse; the other set was taken from the tem-
ple of dGá-túm-du10. To this hybrid of two separate groups, a supervisory group for
the first team (Lugal-lú-ša6-ša6) and supervisors for the second group (Su-sem-a
nu-bànda) were added. It is safe to assume that, by the Neo-Babylonian period, the
two separate supervisor groups were reduced to one - the Babylonians. But the
inherited system of integrating various ethnic and religious groups, as especially
evidenced in the Assyrian period, continues to be reflected in the Neo-Babylonian
times. The chief difference in the sixth century b.c.e., however, is that the practice
is Babylon-centered - Babylon-centered ideology and economy rather than the
more costly peripheral management system of the Assyrians. Every raw and natu-
ral resource, including human labor, was brought to Babylon.59
In light of this information, it seems that the psalm refers to two different reli-
gious and ethnic groups working side by side supervised by the Neo-Babylonians.
In other words, the Babylonian overseers are called "our captors" the first
hapax. "Our tormentors" (‫)ונ'ללוח‬, then, are the second group that was forced to
work on the irrigation canals alongside the Judeans. This secondary religio-ethnic
group may be Anatolians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, or Tyrians60 (based on
Israel Eph'als study of toponyms in the Murašu documents).

4. The initial imprecation of the psalm is found in the rhetorical question,

How could we sing a song of Yahweh on foreign soil? A. A. Anderson suggests,
"How can we who are unclean [since they are in a foreign land (cf. Amos 7.17)]
sing Yahwehs praises to unclean people in an unclean land?" (cf. Isa. 6:5).61 Weiser
thinks that the act of singing the Lord s holy song as a form of entertainment to an
audience of foreigners was repugnant.62 The natural sense of the psalm, however,
simply continues to heighten and expand on the motif of lament that resulted from
social-religious-ethnic denigration. This first half of the imprecation now clearly
unveils the psalmists own social reflexivity- the psalmist is a former temple singer
and musician.

One further point is noteworthy: in the text of Psalm 137, the word ‫ץרא‬

58Kazuya Maekawa, "Agricultural Production in Ancient Sumer," Zinbvn 13 (1974): 1-60,

esp. 42-43.
59 David Stephen Vanderhooft, The Neo-Babylonian Empire and Babylon in the Latter
Prophets (HSM 59; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999), 45-48, 89-114.
60Ephal, "Political and Social Organization," 106-12.
61 Anderson, Book of Psalmsy 899.
62 Weiser, Die Psalmeny 795.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 283

("land") is not employed. Rather, ‫"( המדא‬ground" or "soil"63) is coupled in con-

struct with "that which is foreign." The New Jewish Publication Society Version
captures the essence: "How can we sing a song of the Lord on alien soil?" This
vocabulary suggests the context of irrigation and fits structurally with the first three
verses. The construct chain ‫ רכב תמדא‬governed by the preposition bp recalls ‫ לע‬v.1,
‫לע תירהב לבב‬. A similar usage of ‫ תמדא‬governed by the preposition ‫ לע‬is seen in
Zech 2:16 (Eng. 2:12). This Zechariah pericope occurs in a similar context, with
daughter Babylon, Zion, and forced migrations. There is a third occurrence (in an
agricultural setting) in Isa 32:13. Commentators (e.g., Walther Zimmerli, Joseph
Blenkinsopp) have observed that the communities by the Chebar canal (Ezek 1:1;
3:15, 23) represent displaced foreign workers maintaining Babylonian canals.64
They did not conclude, however, that it was for Babylonian economic-agricultural
gain. Farmers would be more likely to choose the word "soil" over a more generic
term such as "earth" or "land." Dennis Olson describes his life on a farm and care-

fully speaks of "soil" in relation to farming. "Having been born and raised on a
farm, I enjoyed working with the soil."65 In the Sitz im Leben of Psalm 137, the soil,
the land, and everything around the exiles is foreign, the reason for tears - the pri-
mary contrast to Jerusalem, which is to follow.

Verses 5-6

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof
of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.

5-6. The loyalty of the psalmist to Jerusalem is heard in w. 5-6.66 In this

section, the psalm moves from the communal collective first person plural to the
individual first person singular. The Vergegenwärtigungf 7 of the psalmists self-

63 See J. G. Plöger, "‫המדא‬," TDOT 1:88-98.

64 Agriculture was one of three principal bases of economic activity in Babylon (barley and
wheat being the primary crops). For a socioeconomic history of Babylon, see A. K. Grayson, "His-
tory of Mesopotamia-Babylon," ABD 4:768-69. Although outdated, see Georges Contenau, Every-
day Life in Babylon and Assyria (New York: St. Martin's, 1954), 79-94; and H. W. F. Saggs, The
Greatness That Was Babylon: A Sketch of the Ancient Civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley
(New York: Hawthorn Books, 1962), 269-98.
65 See Dennis T. Olson, "Biblical Perspectives on the Land," WW 6 (1986): 18-27.
66 Gary Rendsburg and Susan L. Rendsburg, "Physiological and Philological Notes to Psalm
137, "/QR 83 (1993): 385-99.
67 See Joseph W. Groves, Actualization and Interpretation in the Old Testament (SBLDS 86;
Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987).

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284 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

imprecating vow is heard for the first time. For Erving Goffman, first impressions
are important in everyday life: "In stressing the fact that the initial definition of the
situation projected by an individual tends to provide a plan for the co-operative
activity that follows - in stressing this action point of view - we must not overlook
the crucial fact that any projected definition of the situation also has a distinctive
moral character."68 These words are echoed in the psalmists shift to the first per-
son singular, "If I forget ," to emphasize remembering in the converse of v. 1. The
psalmist then adds, "let my right hand wither (be paralyzed69)!" The meaning of
this terse phrase requires a minor clarification. Andersons suggestion, "let my right
hand forget (her cunning)" (initially suggested by Calvin) is helpful, but in order
to grasp the full meaning of this verse, one must join the idea of being a right-
handed musician or lyrist with the reference to "harps" or lyres70 in v. 2.
Our psalmist has finally and completely unveiled himself. The psalmist is a
right-handed musician, mostly likely a Levite, who is willing to forgo the two most
important parts of his body - the right hand, which plays the instrument, and the
mouth or tongue, which praises God. The Levitical musician is calling for paraly-
sis as a form of self-imprecation if he does not remember Jerusalem. These points
have been structured in a chiasmus.

A If I forget you O Jerusalem (forget)

Β let my right hand wither (part of body)
Β ' let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth (part of body)
A If I do not remember you (forget)
Verses 5 and 6 are not independent, but depend on w. 2, 3, and 4. The strings that
sustain the psalm cohesively are references to Babylon or "there," Jerusalem, and
Zion; vocabulary pertaining to music or song; and the ideas of remembering or
forgetting. Nowhere in first six verses is there a reference to the destruction of
Jerusalem in 587 b.c.e. The conflagration and destruction of Zion are yet to be
mentioned. It is only with w. 7-9 that we hear the direct words of such destruction.

68 See Goffman, Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , 11-13.

69 Israel Eitan, "An Identification of tiškah yěmlnl, Ps 137:5 J JBL 47 (1928): 193-95.
70 Lyres were depicted on walls in Egypt; they were popular in Mesopotamia, and were
depicted on the Pithos A of Kuntillet cAjrud. The instrument is usually held in the left hand (for
a right-handed person) and played or plucked with a kinnor held in the right. The harp in the
Hebrew Bible is more likely to be a lyre. The history of the instrument dates as far back as ca.
3000 b.c.e. The harp that David played was actually a kithara; see the entries "lyre," "harp," and
"kithara," in Harvard Dictionary of Music (2nd ed.; ed. Willi Apel; Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press
of Harvard University, 1977), 495-96, 375-77, 454; (4th ed; ed. Don Michael Randel; Cambridge,
MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2003), 477, 382-85, 446. See also the entries "lyre" and
"kithara" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music (vols. 15 and 13; 2nd ed.; ed. Stanley Sadie; exec-
utive ed. John Tyrrell; London/New York: Grove, 2002), 416-29, 638-40.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137 : Complex Communal Laments 285

Reading the context of the second half of the psalm into the setting of w. 1-6
misidentifies and confuses the Sitz im Leben. The first six verses speak about the
experience of the first wave of forced migrants in 597 b.c.e.

Verses 7-9

7 Remember, O Lord, against the

sons of Edom

the day of Jerusalem,

how they said, "Tear it down!
Tear it down!
Down to her foundations!"
8 O daughter Babylon, you
devastator!

Blessed is the one who71 repays

you for
what you have done to us!
9 Blessed is the one who siezes
and dashes
your children against the rock!

7. Verse 7 marks a new Sitz im Leben. For the first time in the psalm, the
actual aftermath of the events of 587 b.c.e. is heard. There is clearly a heightened
and more dramatically unrehearsed emotional outburst of pain. Verse 7 begins with
imperatives. The compositional style no longer holds the lyrical poetic beauty that
was present in the previous sections. It is slightly more terse, and the vocabulary,
theme, and images become unilaterally children-based, war-oriented, and con-
nected to specific locales. The historical reference to the Edomites, in an almost
prophetic-like condemnatory speech, is rehearsed. As an outcry, this is the very
first direct reference to Yahweh in the psalm. Here the motif to remember takes on
a very different meaning. It is no longer a comparison of past and present but an
invective. There is a consensus that the setting is 587 b.c.e.
This new setting suggests a new psalmist or group that directly petitions Yah-

71 For a concise history of the relative pronoun and the relationship between ‫ ךשא‬and ‫ש‬,
see John Huehnergard, "On the Etymology of the Hebrew Relative še-" in Biblical Hebrew in Its
Northwest Semitic Setting: Typological and Historical Perspectives (ed. Steven E. Fassberg and Avi
Hurvitz; Publications of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University 1; Jerusalem:
Magnes; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006), 103-26. For northern dialect origin, see Gary A.
Rendsburg, Linguistic Evidence for the Northern Origin of Selected Psalms (SBLMS 43; Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1990); idem, Israelian Hebrew in the Book of Kings (Occasional Publications of the
Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Program of Jewish Studies, Cornell University 5;
Bethesda, MD: CDL, 2002); and idem, "Israelian Hebrew in the Song of Songs" in Biblical Hebrew
in Its Northwest Semitic Settings 315-23.

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286 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

weh to remember the evils that the Edomites did as they handed fleeing Judeans
over to the Babylonians while they looted, sacked, and pillaged Jerusalem during
its destruction (cf. Isaiah 34; 63:7-64:11; Ezek 25:12-14; 35:2-9: Obad 8-14).72
Rainer Albertz reminds us that, in 1 Esdr 4:36-46, the Edomites were especially
singled out and found to be responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the
temple.73 Indeed, in w. 7-9 a distinctive new set of voices has joined a previously
existing community. Behind this textual synthesis and integration is a sociological
indication of the second wave (587 b.c.e.) of Judeo-Babylonians being incorpo-
rated and expanding their lament in a more heightened cadence.
It is interesting that the malediction against Edom (cf. Lam 4:21) precedes the
curse against the Babylonians. Kraus notes that "revenge against Edom was a spe-
cial theme of lamentation over the fall of Jerusalem."74 For the community reflected
in w. 7-9, the Edomites are guiltier. They deserve precedence in this imprecation
because not only were they geographically neighbors of Israel but also, as descen-
dants of Esau, they were related to the Israelites by blood.

8-9. Some of the most distressing words in the Hebrew Bible are found in
w. 8 and 9. The unfathomable plea to kill innocent children (cf. 2 Kgs 8:12; Isa
13:16; Hos 14:1; Nah 3:10) is structured in the beatitude formula, "Blessed is the one
(he) ..." or the lackluster conventional NRSV rendering, Ό Daughter Babylon,75
Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they
be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" Again, the NJPSV pre-
serves a more accurate rendering, "a blessing on him who repays you in kind what

72 Elie Assis, "Why Edom? On the Hostility Towards Jacob's Brother in Prophetic Sources,"
VT 56 (2006): 1-20; Nadav Naaman, "Sources and Composition in the Biblical History of Edom,"
in Sefer Moshe: The Moshe Weinfeld Jubilee Volume; Studies in the Bible and the Ancient Near
East, Qumran, and Post-Biblical Judaism (ed. Chaim Cohen, Avi Hurvitz, and Shalom M. Paul;
Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2004), 313-20; John R. Bartlett, "Edomites and Idumeans," PEQ
131 (1999): 102-14; Horst Seebass, "Edom und seine Umgehung nach Numeri xx-xxi: Zu
Numeri xxi 10-13," VT 47 (1997): 255-62; Bert Dicou, Edom, Israels Brother and Antagonist:
The Role of Edom in Biblical Prophecy and Story (JSOTSup 169; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994);
Graham S. Ogden, "Prophetic Oracles against Foreign Nations and Psalms of Communal
Lament: The Relationship of Psalm 137 to Jeremiah 49:7-22 and Obadiah," JSOT 24 (1982): 89-
97; J. M. Myers, "Edom and Judah in the Sixth-Fifth Centuries B.C.," in Near Eastern Studies in
Honor of William Foxwell Albright (ed. Hans Goedicke; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971),
377-92.

73 Rainer Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century b.c.e. (trans.
David Green; SBL Studies in Biblical Literature 3; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 28;
see also n. 51 on the same page.
74 Kraus, Psalms 60-150 , 503.
75 Dahood argues that this construction should not be rendered "Daughter of Babylon"; see
the section on "Daughter Babylon," in Psalms 101-150 , 273. See also Elaine R. Follis, "The Holy
City as Daughter," in Directions in Biblical Hebrew Poetry, ed. Follis, 173-83.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments 287

you have inflicted on us ... a blessing on him who seizes your babies and dashes
them against the rocks!"
It is not difficult to imagine why the psalmist would utter such devastating
words. The events of 587 entailed not only a collective experience of the destruc-
tion of the temple and the city but also the painful personal loss of children. Here
is the key social marker that sets the second wave of forced migrants apart from the
first wave. In contrast to the collective lament for displacement and loss of prestige
in w. 1 and 2, in the closing verses of the psalm those who experienced the after-
math of 587 are outraged that God would allow innocent children to be slaugh-
tered by the Babylonians.76 The family-related terms "son," "daughter," and
"children" in w. 7-9, coupled with Edom and Babylon, foreshadow the shocking
conclusion.

v. 7 ‫ 'גבל םודא‬Sons of Edom

v. 8 ^Π"Γ12 Daughter Babylon77
v. 9 ybbv Your children/daughter
The reference to " sons of Edom" (v. 7) is bound to the idea of "remembering" and
to the mocking words "Tear it down! Tear it down!" In v. 8, " daughter Babylon" is
bound, in synonymous parallelism,78 to the "devastator" (or "you who are devas-
tated"). In v. 9, the central reference to " infants " or " children " with the imprecation
"Blessed is the one who takes your children [sons and daughters] and dashes them
against the rock" is presented in the prosperity-blessing formula. Here Gunkel s
words are especially illuminating and important.

This change of the ancient blessing formula [bārūk to 3 asrê ] may coincide with
the belief which grew steadily over the course of history, that a real blessing was
impossible for the laity. It could only come from priests. Therefore, one can main-
tain that the blessing saying which is introduced with 5 asrê was the characteris-
tic blessing form for the laity [emphasis added]. . . . This presumption finds
welcome additional evidence in the observation that the blessing saying begin-
ning with °asre appears nowhere as the blessing of the priest, while the ancient
form introduced with bārūk is demonstrable in examples of priestly blessings
stemming precisely from the period in which only the priesthood had the priv-
ilege of carrying out a blessing [Pss 1 15.15; 1 18.26]
described originally existed as a predicate and subject or (with 3ašrē) as the call
to prosperity with the dependent genitive of the one being blessed. The blessing
form designates the receiver of the blessing to the degree that the blessing treats

76 Eaton ( Psalms , 299), like other commentators, notes that Jewish mothers probably expe-
rienced the tragedy of their babies being slaughtered by the Babylonians.
77 Follis, "Holy City as Daughter," 173-83.
78 See James L. Kugel, The idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History (1981; repr.,
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), esp. 45-58; David L. Petersen and Kent Harold
Richards, Interpreting Hebrew Poetry (GBS; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 21-35; and Robert Alter,
The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 3-26.

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288 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

specific persons. It suffices to have the name, if the one receiving the blessing is
addressed, or the second person pronoun, or the third person pronoun if the
person is not present, but is known. If no specific person is to receive the bless-
ing, then a more specific characteristic is necessary using a relative sentence, or a
participle. . . . The relative clause and participles frequently express the reason
why one should receive the blessing.79

In contrast to the privileged Levitical musician in w. 1-6, w. 7-9 depict lay parents
losing their children. One can now see clearly the two social classes and the very dif-
ferent causes for the laments in Psalm 137.

Indeed, commentators have been troubled by this ending, and in the liturgies
of certain communities, these final verses have even been omitted. Goffmann's
point may provide additional insight. "During sudden disruptions of a perform-
ance, and especially at times when a misidentification is discovered, a portrayed
character can momentarily crumble while the performer behind the character Tor-
gets himself' and blurts out a relatively unperformed exclamation."80 In simple
terms, these words from our psalmist (w. 7-9) again cannot be postexilic or later
redactions. They appear to be extemporaneous, words captured during a momen-
tary collapse. The recent ordeal of the psalmists own children becomes the synec-
doche for all lost children of the 587 b.c.e. group. This loss and pathos, against the
rock or the wall of Jerusalem (cf. Lam 2:18), are the unrehearsed emotional out-
burst.81 What is painfully interesting, however, is that the words of the curse are
enveloped in a lay blessing formula projected not to any third person but to Yah-
weh (the antecedent), who is called upon (not only to remember but moreover) to
do likewise. It is this retributive act and image of God dashing innocent children
against the rock that immensely troubles us.
To be more specific about the previous point, in w. 8 and 9, the Hebrew ver-
bal construction seeks a subject for "Blessed is the one who repays you, blessed is
the one who seizes and dashes to pieces your children against the rock." As noted
by Gunkel, the formula seeks a person, but in our psalm, it is unlikely that
this "generic third person" is a human agent. Rather, the antecedent is Yahweh (v. 7)
as further evidenced in the small cluster of the Songs of Descent (Psalms 135-137).
The final redactor has opted to employ this relative pronoun for Yahweh.

Ps 135:8, 10 The one who [Yahweh] struck the firstborn; the one who
[Yahweh] struck the great nations

79 Gunkel, Psalms , 224-26 (emphasis added); see 1 Sam 25:33; 2 Sam 2:5; 1 Kgs 10:8.
80Goffman, Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , 168. See his account of the encounter
between the American general dressed in civilian clothes and the MP asking for the trip ticket. The
MP blurted out "Good Lord! I didnt recognize you, sir" (pp. 168-69).
81 Shimon Bar-Efrat, "Love of Zion: A Literary Interpretation of Psalm 137," in Tehillah le-
Moshe, ed. Cogan et al., 9-10.

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 Ahn: Psalm 137 : Complex Communal Laments 289

Ps 136:23 The one who [Yahweh] remembers us in our lowly state

Ps 137:9 Blessed is the one who [Yahweh] takes your children (little ones)
and dashes them against the rock!

Is the blessing-laden imprecation a real attempt at uttering genuine praise and

thanksgiving in the midst of the most painful period of the community's existence,
or is the psalmist (or editor) seeking genuine retribution? Historically, the Persians
did not lift the sword against the Neo-Babylonians, and, thus, here is our final com-
plex element. As modern interpreters, we should not seek to alter too quickly the
tensions of such laments, self- imprecations, and communal curses, or to change
the final placement of the psalm.
The sociologically conditioned laments of the 597 group and the second wave
of the 587 group are parallel but noticeably different. Both are real and laden with
pain, suffering, and unbearable reminders of the past. At the core of those who
came in 597 b.c.e. was remembering the loss of privileges and their current situa-
tion; for those who came in 587 b.c.e., it was not forgetting the children- both the
psalmists own and daughter Jerusalem.

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